This was the 2016 season in microcosm. More than that, the German Grand Prix weekend was the last two-and-a-half years of Formula 1 racing and the story of a personal rivalry rolled into just three days.
Nico Rosberg was so close to winning his home grand prix. That might seem an absurd suggestion given he finished fourth, but just as with the world championship in the previous two years, and with the way this season's title looks to be going, the margins between glory and disaster were tiny.
And, as has become usual again in the last three months, Lewis Hamilton danced that fine line to perfection to take a 19-point lead into the August break while Rosberg slipped the wrong side of it.